Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. It features an abnormal mass of malignant tissue resulting from excessive cell division. Cancer cells proliferate in defiance of normal restraints on cell growth, and invade and colonize territories normally reserved for other cells. Modes of cancer therapy include chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and combinations of these treatments. Chemotherapy typically involves use of one or more compounds that inhibit cancer cell growth. While many cancer chemotherapeutic agents have been developed, there remains a need for more effective chemotherapy. Inflammation is the body's defense reaction to injuries such as those caused by mechanical damage, infection, or antigenic stimulation. An inflammatory reaction may be expressed pathologically when inflammation is induced by an inappropriate stimulus such as an autoantigen, expressed in an exaggerated manner or persists well after the removal of the injurious agents. A number of therapeutic agents have been developed for inhibiting inflammatory reactions or treating inflammatory disorders. However, many of them are not satisfactory due to poor efficacy, side effects, or instability.
There is a need for agents and methods for treating cellular proliferative disorders, such as cancer, or for treating inflammatory disorders